Covaxin approved for emergency use by WHO. What does this mean for Indian students?

With the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Technical Advisory Group (TAG) recommending Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, it is great news for Indian students who are waiting to go abroad. While countries like Guyana, Mexico, the Philippines, Iran, Nepal, Mauritius, Paraguay, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Australia, Greece, Oman and Estonia had already approved of the vaccine, many other countries were waiting for the WHO nod before stamping their approval.

Now that WHO has approved the vaccine, it can be expected that several other countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Canada are likely to allow students jabbed with both doses of Covaxin to travel and study there. These countries are among the most popular study abroad destinations for Indian students.

But what is this the EUL all about? The Technical Advisory Group is an independent advisory group that provides recommendations to WHO on whether a COVID-19 vaccine can be listed for emergency use under the EUL procedure. The WHO had been in the process of evaluating Covaxin's clinical trial data for approving the EUL. After seeking certain "additional clarifications" from Bharat Biotech on October 26, the advisory body reviewed the "risk-benefit assessment" and approved it for EUL on November 3.

Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant. In June, Bharat Biotech said it concluded the final analysis of Covaxin efficacy from Phase 3 trials. Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covishield are the two widely used vaccines in India.